The free, five-hour workshop introduced high school students to modern research in robotics and its applications to various fields through presentations, videos and demonstrations of robots. It featured University of Maryland researchers, professors and student robotics clubs, as well as FIRST Robotics teams and robotics clubs from local high schools.

The workshop was sponsored by the Maryland Robotics Center and FIRST Robotics in Maryland. Martins, Betsy Mendelsohn, director of the Science, Technology and Society program within the university’s College Park Scholars program, William Duncan (FIRST Robotics) and Maryland Robotics Center Graduate Assistant Anagha Kohojkar organized the event.

More than 80 students and their parents attended and were given certificates of participation and access to the American Control Conference’s welcome reception.